The Walking Dead showrunner Frank Darabont has slammed the current vampire craze in film and television.

He told SFX that he hopes viewers will abandon vampire-based shows for the new zombie drama.

"I hope seeing a zombie show as cool as this, seeing the gritty, scary part, will get rid of this teeny-bopper 'kissing vampires' craze," he said.

Darabont also insisted that The Walking Dead will be able to compete with horror projects on the big screen.

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"Fortunately, the budget on this series is not that different from a movie, because zombie films have always been quite easy to make on a lower budget," he explained. "The effects we have in our shoot rival any zombie movie that you've seen."